Dawn (butterfly)

The wingspan is 38-48 mm, ^[3] and the length of the front wing is 17-23 (20-24) mm. Antennae capitate, gray, with light mace. The male's head and chest are covered with yellowish-gray hairs. Fore wing on top with an extensive bright orange field occupying its entire distal half and not limited to black inside; discal spot small, streaky, black, not centered on white, lies on an orange background. The top of the front wing is black on top, solid, whitish below, with a silky sheen. The fringe of the front wing is motley, consists of alternating orange and black sections, white along the anal edge. The fringe of the hind wing is white, with dark strokes at the veins. The hind wing is white from above, the lower side with irregularly shaped gray-green fields on a white background.

The female's head and chest are covered with dark gray hairs. The pattern of the wings, like a male, has a front wing without an orange field; the black field at the apex and the discal spot are wider than that of the male.

Extratropical Eurasia . It is found throughout Eastern Europe . The usual form of whites in spring. It extends north to the coast of the Barents Sea in the west and the Polar Urals in the east. It is absent in the desert zone in the southeast of the European part, and in the subzone of dry steppes it is confined to the floodplains of the rivers.

Butterflies prefer open forest or bordering the forest , slightly damp motley grassy areas: clearings, edges, clearings, clearings. Actively flying males can penetrate quite far into open spaces, such as meadows in floodplains, roadsides; cross the urban wasteland. The species is confined to mesophilic stations with trees and shrubs. Rises in the mountains up to 2000 m above sea level. m. On the Kola Peninsula is associated with anthropogenic, meadow biotopes. It is found in Moscow in urban forests, from where it penetrates into neighboring territories, including residential areas.

The species develops in one generation in a year. From the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus , finds of the species are known at the end of March. In the middle lane , flight time lasts from late April to late June. In the forest-tundra and tundra zones, fresh males appear in the first decade of July. Butterflies feed on flowering willows ( Salix ) and forbs.

After mating, the female lays 1, sometimes 2-3, eggs on inflorescences , less often on pedicels and young pods of fodder plants. The caterpillar is bluish-green, with small blackish dots, a dark green head and a whitish dorsal line on 1 and 5 segments of the body. It develops on some cruciferous herbs from late May to mid July, feeding on petals or young seeds in pods. Pupation in July. A chrysalis overwinter . Pupa smooth, green or light brown with white side stripes.

Forage plants of caterpillars: petiola garlic ( Alliaria officinalis ), representatives of the genus Garlic ( Alliaria ), including petiola garlic ( Alliaria petiolata ), common colza ( Barbarea vulgaris ), shepherd’s bag ( Capsella bursa-pastoris ), representatives of the genus core ( Cardamine ) including the meadow core ( Cardamine pratensis ), dye wyda ( Isatis tinctoria ), annual linnik ( Lunaria annua ), swampworm ( Rorippa islandica ), representatives of the genus gallows ( Sisymbrium ), representatives of the genus Yaruka ( Thlaspi ), including the yarok field ( Thlaspi arvense ), smooth turret ( Turritis glabra ).

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  Egg

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  Caterpillar

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  Doll]

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In Eastern Europe, it is represented by the nominative Euro-Siberian subspecies. For the Caucasus, a number of works cite the West Asian subspecies Anthocharis cardamines phoenissa Kalchberg, 1894, which is distinguished by round and large white spots on the underside of the wings. However, this symptom is also characteristic of many butterflies from different points of the range, especially in the southern areas of distribution. Some individuals collected in the most arid parts of the Caucasus also have another noticeable feature: a gray blurred inner border of the orange apical field, similar to the arid species Anthocharis gruneri. However, this trait is not sustainable - not all Caucasian individuals of the species possess it.

Subspecies

• A. c. alexandra (Hemming, 1933) - distribution of a subspecies - Altai . Other names (synonyms) of subspecies A. c. orientalis Röber, 1907 ^[4]
• A. c. cardamines (Linnaeus, 1758) - nominative subspecies. Distributed in Europe, the temperate zone of Asia, China and Japan . ^[four]
• A. c. hayashii Fujioka, 1970 - distributed in Japan ^[4]
• A. c. isshikii Matsumura, 1925 - common in Japan * A. c. kobayashii Matsumura, 1925 - distributed on Sakhalin ^[4]
• A. c. koreana Matsumura, 1937 - lives on the Amur and Ussuri ^[4]
• A. c. meridionalis Verity, 1908 - distributed in Altai, in the Sayans and Transbaikalia ^[4]
• A. c. phoenissa Kalchberg, 1894 - distributed at Kopetdag ^[4]
• A. c. progressa (Sovinsky, 1905) - widely distributed in the Tien Shan , Gissar-Darvaz and the Far East . Other names for subspecies A. c. sajana Röber, 1907 and A. c. sibirica Haanshus, 1920 ^[4]
• A. c. septentrionalis Wnukowsky, 1927 - distributed in the Far East ^[4]

Postage stamps depicting dawns were issued: in Albania in 1963; in Bulgaria in 1981; in Hungary in 1966; in Jersey in 2006; in Norway in 1993; in Romania in 1969, 1991; in Finland in 1986; in Czechoslovakia in 1961; in Switzerland in 1951 ^[5]

The species is listed in the Red Book of Moscow , although it belongs to the 3rd category of rarity. Butterfly of the Year in Germany in 2004.

• Nekrutenko Yu.P. Day butterflies of the Caucasus. Determinant. - Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1990. - S. 70―71. - 216 p. - ISBN 5-12-001352-X .